The Patriot Act and its Provisions for Counter Terrorism

Running Head: COUNTER TERRORISM
COUNTER TERRORISM
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Author Note

2COUNTER TERRORISM
THE PATRIOT ACT
The USA Patriot Act 2001 was passed with immediate effect after a month of the 9/11
attacks. The World Trade Centre terrorist attacks brought extensive changes in the surveillance
of terrorist activities aimed at United States of America. The USA Patriot Act is an abbreviation
of “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”. The Act was initially passed without much deterrence
from the opposition and was supposed to expire in 2009. The extension of the ACT in the 2009
saw greater opposition and was reenacted with few revisions (Minoz, Coyle, & Kaufman, 2002).
The three major provisions that facilitate anti terrorism and counter terrorist activities will be
discussed here.
Provision I
“Enhanced surveillance procedures for law enforcement, including amendments to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)”.
This provision of the Patriot Act empowers the officials of the Federal government in
conducting search and surveillance of the property without any prior notice or consent of the
owner or the occupant of the property.
The "Roving" Surveillance: Provision II
The section 206 of the Patriot Act authorizes investigators to track suspected individuals
by tapping their communication devices. (telephones and cellular phones). The “Roving”
surveillance empowers them to track several communication devices used by the suspected
individual with the power of the provision and curtails the necessity of separate warrants for